Shrewsbury selectmen order another dangerous dog be put to death

SHREWSBURY — A dog that bit two people without provocation and attempted to attack one of them two weeks later was deemed Tuesday night to be a dangerous dog and ordered to be euthanized.

Preston, a 3-year-old Weimaraner — who bit a jogger Sept. 17 and a woman who came to the jogger's aid — is the second dangerous dog the Board of Selectmen has ordered killed this month.

Preston is owned by Lynn Redmiles of 21 Lakeside Drive.

Amelia Tibert, 21, a personal trainer who lives at 3 Smith Road, told selectmen she was jogging by 21 Lakeside Drive on Sept. 17 when Preston bolted out the front door and attacked her, biting her on the stomach and back. She said a veterinarian who lives next door was walking her dog when she saw the attack and rushed over to assist her. The dog turned on the veterinarian, biting her on her arm.

Leona Pease, the animal control officer, said the veterinarian told her the attack on Ms. Tibert "was the worst attack that she has ever witnessed."

Ms. Tibert, who was visibly shaken, told selectmen that l0 days later, the day after she had her stitches removed from the first attack, she was jogging by 21 Lakeside Drive when Preston bolted out the front door and again tried to attack her. She said she was able to fight the dog off until its owner came out.

"The owner seems to be very apologetic. But she does not seem to be able to control the dog," she told selectmen.

Officer Pease said that when she first spoke with Ms. Redmiles she chose to keep the dog in her home for the required 10-day quarantine. At that point, the officer would take the dog and euthanize it because of the severity of the attack.

But at the end of the hearing, Officer Pease said that after meeting the dog, she decided to recommend other measures, including professional training and fencing.

"We don't like to euthanize dogs. But we're quite limited in what we can do. I'm not entirely comfortable with any of these remedies," Selectman John I. Lebeaux said.

Ms. Redmiles had also said her sister, Laurie Millan, who lives near the airport in Worcester, wanted to take the dog to live with her family.

Selectmen said they could not allow a dog they deemed dangerous to move to another community. The board voted unanimously to have the dog killed.

Selectmen on Oct. 8 imposed a death sentence on Saydee, a 2-year-old boxer-type dog owned by 40-year-old Jeneen Demers of 31 Westmont Road.

The board in June had deemed Saydee to be dangerous and the dog's 9-month-old companion, Pesky, also a boxer type, to be a nuisance, after several residents told selectmen they no longer walked their own dogs on their street because they feared Ms. Demers' two large dogs. The board ordered, among other things, that the two dogs be muzzled whenever they were outside.

Ms. Demers was back before the Board of Selectmen Oct. 8 after a Liberty Street couple testified that one of them and one of their dogs had been bitten by Saydee in Dean Park. They said neither Saydee nor Pesky was muzzled.

The couple said Ms. Demers gave them a false name and hurried to her car and sped off.

Ms. Demers on Oct. 16 filed an appeal of the death order in Westboro District Court. A hearing date has not been scheduled.

Meanwhile, Ms. Demers gets to retain custody of Saydee because the court hearing is considered a new hearing.